Dental articulator



April 1947- c. E. D E$SEN DENTAL ARTICULATQR I Filed July 13, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR' CHARLES E. D'ESSEN,

ATTORNEY April 15, 1947. c. E. DESSEN 2,418,824

DENTAL ARTICULATOR Filed July 13, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR:CHARLES E. D'ESSEN,

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 15, 1947 UNITED STATES orrice 1 Claim. 1 Thisinvention relates to improvements in dental articulators.

The purpose of such device is to hold in correct relation to one anotheran upper and a lower cast representing respectively the upper and thelower jaw of the human mouth, which comprises the masticatory mechanism.In dentistry such a device is known as an articulator.

The articu-lator per se appears as a skeleton structure in which thelower jaw is represented by a skeleton element knownas the lower bowadapted to have. applied thereto the dental cast of a lower. jaw, theupper bow being articulated upon the. lower bow as a base for swingingmovement about a horizontal. axis, and adapted to have applied theretothe dental cast of an upper Jaw.

The articulation in such devices must. be capable of simulating. the.motions of the human jaws with respect to each other. That is to say,the articulation mustl be such, as to. render the jaws yieldable withrespect to each other in the sense that they upper bow is universallydisplaceable with certain limits with respect to the lower bow, and,that the bows will reassume their centralized. registering position withrespect to one another when the, displacing force is removed. Universaldisplaceability or compound displacement in thisconnection means thatthe upper bow in addition to its up and down swinging movement due toarticulation, should also be capable of lateral swinging movement, andeven of slight total bodily movement in an approximately back and forthdirection, all in such a fashion that the. bows will normally not becomedislocated with respect to each other in an abnormal manner, and willautomatically 'reassume their centralized or normal rgeistering positionwith respect to each other upon withdrawal of the displacing force.Otherwise expressed, the articulation should allow for transverse aswell as longitudinal grinding motions of the. jaws upon each other.

Another requirement of such devices is; forthe upper'bow to be easilydetachable from its base, that is from the lower bow. There should. alsobe provided adjustable. stop means determining that enclosed angle ofthe bows; which come:-

sponds to the; position of the. dentaldaw casts closing upon eachother... Another requirement of the articulator construction is that itshould ofier unobstructed visibility from the rear into the cavity whichis formed by the. dental: casts when closed upon eachother...

It is among the-objects of this invention to ible shanks.

produce an improved articulator which meets the above outlinedrequirements, and which is of great simplicity involving a minimum ofcomponent parts, which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is rugged inconstruction, and which allows for rapid connecting and disconnecting ofthe bows. I

These objects are attained by the functioning of an element interposedbetween the lower and the upper bows, so designed and'mounted as toserve a multiple purpose and to perform a multiple function. Such anelement provides at once the interlocking relationship between the bowsalong with the resiliently yieldability'and universal displaceability orone bowgwith respect to the other as well as the ability of the bowsfollowing a forced displacement to re-align themselves to normalregistering position with respect to each other, and further the abilityof one bow to be readily disconnected from the other.

According to this invention such multiple pur- 1 pose and multiplefunction element is in the form of a structural element of relativelyshallow V- shape, that is of a V-shape in which a relatively large angleis enclosed by the shanks of the V. This V-shaped structural member hasa solid or non-flexible vertexor corner portion-and flex- The extremeend portion of the flexible shanks are spreadably attached to the hingeportion of thelower bow so that the corner portion 0f the V-shapeprovides a central prominence substantially in the form of a verticalridge adapted to engage in. a corresponding groove encircling thecentral portion of the hub or hinge portion of the upper bow. Thetension for" the spring shank portions of the V-shaped member holds thecentral prominence thereof engagedin the groove of the upper bow andthereby at once centers the bows with respect to each other, whileholding the upper bow resiliently locked in a pair of open hingeportions of the lower bow; The upper bow can bedetached. by unhingingitfrom the. lower bow against the pressure of the yielding spring shanksof the V- shaped structural member.

Some of the features relate to, the. disposition of the 'V-shaped.resilient member relative to the associated upper and lower bows of thearticulator; other features relate to, the -V-shapedmemher per se and asan article of manufacture.

According to one feature one extreme. end of a spring shank of theif-shaped member is: fixed, while the corresponding end of the othershank is movable although pressure-engaging its. base. Another featureprovides for a V-shaped; flat spring member, the vertex or cornerportion of which is rendered inflexible by a corner stiffening andbracing element extending within the corner. Th invention possessesother objects and features of advantage, some of which with theforegoing will be set forth in the following description. In thefollowing description and in the claim, parts will be identified byspecific names for convenience, but they are intended to be as genericin their application to similar parts as the art permit. In theaccompanying drawings there has been illustrated the best embodiment ofthe inventionknown to me, but such embodiment is to be regarded astypical only of many possible embodiments, and the invention is not tobe limited thereto.

The novel features considered characteristic of my invention are setforth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself,however, both as to its organization and its method of operation,together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best beunderstood from the following description of a specific embodiment whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figs. 1 to 3show the articulator assembled, Fig. 1 being a plan view, Fig. 2 being aside view, and Fig. 3 being a rear view;

Fig. 4 is a detail side view of the open hinge connection between theupper and lower bows of the articulator;

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view of the V- shaped structural springmember; Figs. 6 and 7 show views of the articulator when disassembeld,Fig. 6 being a plan view upon the lower bow with the V-shaped springmember thereon somewhat untensioned and Fig. 7 showing the plan view ofthe upper bow.

The artlculator in Figs. 1 to 3 comprises a socalled lower bow l0corresponding to the lower human jaw and a so-called upper bow llcorresponding to the upper human jaw, both bows having disconnectablearticulating connection with one another by means of a, pair of hingeportions l2 and I3 comprising a shaft 14 of the upper bow lodging in.recesses of the lower bow. The lower bow l6 presents a rigid structure,frame, or cast comprising a horizontally extending tongue portion 15serving as the supporting foot of the articulator and formed with threesupporting pads l6, l1, and I8. A pair of posts I9 and 26 rise from therear end portion of the foot 15, the posts being interconnected at thetop by a transverse or bridge portion 2|. The posts I9 and 20 areirregularly shaped although disposed symmetrically with respect to eachother, one post being disposed at one side of the foot portion 15 andthe other post at the side thereof. Thus, for instance, the post l9extends upwardly with a slight rearward incline as indicated by thedistance a (see Fig. 2) as well as with a slight lateral outward inclineas indicated by the distance shaft M, a slightly inclined face 25, theincline.

being indicated by the angle A," along which .incline the shaft M may bedisplaced, and a verticalface 25. The corresponding portion of a recess21 on a rearward extension 28 of the post -20 similarly comprisesa hookportion 29, an inclined face 38 and a vertical face 3|. treme rear endportions of the extensions 22 and 28 of the posts [9 and 25 aredesignated by the numerals 32 and 33 respectively and they are connectedby the bridge portion 2| the widened middle portion of which hasthreaded into it a vertical adjustment screw 34 provided with a knurledhead 35 and with a knurled locknut 36.

A V-shaped structuralspring member Si is attached to the vertical faces26 and 3! in the recesses 23 and 27 respectively, the manner ofattachment being clear from Figs. 1 and 2, as well as from the detailperspective Fig. 5 of the V-shaped member per se. The member 37comprises a flat spring element 38 formed in the shape of a V presentinga vertex or corner portion 38 which of itself is kept rigid by means ofa relatively inflexible brace element 39 shown to be riveted to thespring element 38 as at 40 and M. Hence, there results a V-shapedstructure or member '37 having a substantially nondeformable cornerportion or prominence presenting a vertical edge 43, a resilientlydeformable flat spring portion or shank 44 provided with a hole 35 atthe end 46 of the shank and a flat spring portion or shank 47 providedwith an indention or cut-out 58 at the end 49 of the shank. The one endportion 45 of the V-shaped member 34 is shown to be fastened to theface'26 of the recess 23 on the lower bow l6 as by a rivet 50, while theother end portion 49 of the member 31 engages the face 3! of recess 21at the opposite side of the lower bow i9, and is held against verticaldisplacement although horizontally movable by a pin 5! lodging in thecut-out 48 to allow for resilient deformation or bending of the shanks44 and 41 of the V-shaped member 31 while maintaining centralized therigid corner portion 38 which in turn centralizes the upper bow H Whileengaging in a groove 52 thereof. The upper bow comprises a tongue-likehorizontal portion 53 formed at the rear with a hinge portioncomprisinga thickened portion or hub 54 in which is fixed the shaft l4 which isprovided at each end with a knurled finger piece 55. From the'hub 54rearwardlyextends a finger 56 so disposed asto be en aged by the lowerend of the adjusting's'cr'ew 34, thisiscr'ew thus serving as anadjustable stop for the downward swinging movement of the upper bow H,the stop adjustment to be made in accordance with the requirements ofthe particular casts of the jaws to be carried by the articulator.

The operation of the device and the co-action of the parts aresubstantially self-explanatory from the discussion of the parts so farrendered, as well as from the drawings. The manipulation ofdisconnecting the upper bow I I from the lower bow I6 is extremelysimple, requiring nothing but to displace the shaft 1 4 in a directiontransversely to its longitudinal axis upon the sloping faces 25 and 30far enough to have the shaft released from the hook portions 24 and 29so as to enable it to be removed upwardly; from the recesses 23 and 21.

I claim:

In an articulator' the combination of a lower v bow comprising ahorizontally extendingtonguelike foot portion, a pair of post's-risingfrom the rear end of the foot portion and dispose'dsym metrically withrespect to the longitudinal center line of the tongue-like foot portion,.a transverse portion interconnecting the .top end portions of saidposts, each posthaving in its upper portion an upwardly open recessdisposed intermediate The eX- said transverse portion and said footportion although adjacent to said transverse portion, said recess beingdefined by a hook portion the open end of which faces said transverseportion, a substantially vertical face facing opposite to said hookportion, an operating face for sliding contact with a portion of theupper bow to be defined below, said operating face extendingintermediate said vertical face and said hook portion of the recess, anupper bow comprising a tonguelike portion having fixed to its rear end atransversely extending shaft adapted to lodge in said hook portion andhaving a circular groove concentering said upper bow with respect to thelower bow while maintaining articulated relationship between them, oneend of said V-shaped members being fixed while the opposite end thereifis horizontally displaceable to allow for deformation of the member, andadjustable stop means for defining the angular relationship between theupper and the lower bow when the same are in jaw closing position.

CHARLES E. DESSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,227,289 White et a1 Dec. 31,1940 509,975 Van Patten Dec. 5, 1893 607,886 Schubert July 26, 18981,452,477 Chott Apr, 17, 1923 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,792British Feb. 24, 1880

